Martha believes that ‘…recruiting the right people will be the best way to improve the effectiveness of Just Desserts Ltd’s workforce’. Do you agree with her? Justify your answer.
(15 marks)
Always start with a definition…..
For recruitment as the best way to improve the effectiveness of the workforce:
• the business is expanding rapidly and will be recruiting heavily and thus the quality of the people of employed will be important
• falling productivity could be because the right people have not been appointed
• average spans of control have doubled in two years and so the company will need to recruit good quality managers and supervisors/team leaders
Against:
• there is a need for training – Martha has postponed some and intends to introduce new systems such as quality assurance
• productivity levels in the factory have fallen suggesting a need for training.
This is exacerbated by the increasing complexity of the company’s production as it increases its product range
• improving job design may improve the performance of managers and junior employees
Issues for evaluation may include the following:
• recruiting the right people is obviously important – but is only part of creating an effective workforce (What other factors help create an ‘effective’ workforce?)
• recruiting the right people is most important as training and motivational techniques will have little impact if people are not of the correct calibre
